This archive report was first published on 10 September 2019.
On 2nd August 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the establishment of cancer treatment centres in counties to reduce the burden on national referral hospitals. In response, Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki announced plans to train more cancer specialists to address the challenge of patients traveling to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret and Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi for treatment.
Speaking in Bomet County during the commissioning of an Oncology Centre at Longisa County hospital, CS Kariuki pointed out that the country had only 26 cancer doctors, hence the need to train more. She emphasized that cancer is the leading non-communicable killer disease in the country and can only be managed if the disease is diagnosed early by trained medics.
The CS said that the government had embarked on a serious programme to decentralise cancer treatment to counties. She noted that Moi Teaching Hospital had embarked on the training of clinical officers and nurses on cancer treatment and management, which will go hand in hand in identifying the disease at formative stages where it can be managed locally instead of traveling overseas.
The new centre at Longisa will be mentored by Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in collaboration with Kenyatta National Hospital, who will be sending doctors to the centre to attend to patients. The centre will provide chemotherapy treatment, but patients will undergo radiotherapy treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital. The government plans to procure equipment to MTRH radiology department by December 2019 to provide radiotherapy treatment for patients from the western region.
